


Open 24 Hours

by Ficwriter24



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Diners, Bisexual Josh Dun, Friends to Lovers, Gay Tyler Joseph, Josh Dun Has An Anxiety Disorder, Josh Dun is a Sweetheart, M/M, No Smut, Not Beta Read, jenna and tyler work at a diner, josh and debby are childhood friends, josh and debby dont know how to manage their time, josh studies art or sm, joshler - Freeform, tyler studies music theory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-10-19 03:52:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17594075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ficwriter24/pseuds/Ficwriter24
Summary: "Josh’s anxiety levels are skyrocketed through the roof, Josh knows it’s because of how late it is, and he tells himself for the millionth time that he needs to pay more attention to time before doing things. Debby takes it upon herself to order him coffee, and Josh could honestly couldn’t love her more. ‘Jenna’ makes her way back behind the counter, and Josh’s eyes are traveling back towards Debby he thinks, until they latch onto another waiter. He’s got bold black lines across his tan arms, long fingers, and scruffy brown hair. His name tag reads ‘Tyler’, but his face reads boredom, and all Josh’s eyes can focus on is the rhythm Tyler is tapping out with his fingers, the tune being to synchronized for someone who wasn’t a musician. Of course Josh sounds poetic about this kid, but he’s a artist; everything sounds poetic in his head, and Josh doesn’t know what it is, but Tyler has the prettiest hands he’s ever seen."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Joshler Diner au that I wrote while listening to Troye Sivan and no one asked for. Also, I wrote this fic a certain way because it's Josh's POV and I wanted the writing style to fit the character ig.
> 
> Find me on Instagram @ lemonjoy24 and my Tumblr @ lazycollectionblr

When Josh first meets Tyler, it’s at a little diner down the street from his apartment. It’s late, and Josh and Debby were bored out of their minds. The clock was just hitting 11, but time had never really affected Josh or the way he went about things. Their sat at the back of this diner, and a girl comes to take their order. Josh has seen this girl plenty of times; shoulder length blonde hair, excited blue eyes (which Josh thinks is insane due to how late it is), kind smile (teeth on full display kinda smile), a real innocent looking girl. Debby’s type really. Josh thinks her name is Jenna.

Josh’s anxiety levels are skyrocketed through the roof, Josh knows it’s because of how late it is, and he tells himself for the millionth time that he needs to pay more attention to time before doing things. Debby takes it upon herself to order him coffee, and Josh could honestly couldn’t love her more. ‘Jenna’ makes her way back behind the counter, and Josh’s eyes are traveling back towards Debby he thinks, until they latch onto another waiter. He’s got bold black lines across his tan arms, long fingers, and scruffy brown hair. His name tag reads ‘Tyler’, but his face reads boredom, and all Josh’s eyes can focus on is the rhythm Tyler is tapping out with his fingers, the tune being to synchronized for someone who wasn’t a musician. Of course Josh sounds poetic about this kid, but he’s a artist; everything sounds poetic in his head, and Josh doesn’t know what it is, but Tyler has the prettiest hands he’s ever seen.

Tyler leans against the counter and starts a conversation with Jenna. She laughs and smiles a smile that spreads all the way to Tyler’s face, which Josh thinks is way cuter on him than the look of boredom he worn a few seconds later. Jenna nods toward Josh and Debby’s table, and Josh can hear her say something like ‘Last table of the night’ and now Josh feels bad for coming in so late. But Tyler just turns to look at them, and Josh is quick to look away in hopes that if he was caught staring, they would just assume he was an observant person. He is really, but he was really observing Tyler.

Josh then realizes Debby has been talking the whole time, he has no idea what about, but he’s sure she was talking to him. “What?” He asks, knowing damn well Debby will just continue on with her story rather than explaining all over again, but whatever. Josh couldn’t care less. 

“So I was thinking things were going fine or whatever, the date went well, she was really pretty. I show up for classes the next day and there she is, standing outside the lecture hall making out with some guy from our class. I really thought-” Aaaaaand Josh isn’t paying attention again. It seemed like all Debby ever talked about was the dates she was going on and the people she had feelings for. Josh didn’t have a problem with her having feelings for people, or her telling him about it, he just couldn’t relate to any of it. He’s never been in a relationship, or “Hung out” with anyone. Josh had always just been, well, lonely.

Jenna comes back with their drinks, and now Debby is yelling at him again. At least he thinks she’s yelling, he’s not sure really, everything is muffled. Despite Debby’s disappointment, Josh thanks Jenna quietly and in return she gives him her best smile, but all Josh can think about is the beat behind the poppy song that's playing quietly through the diner. “You haven’t been taking your meds, have you Josh?”

Meds. The meds in the back of his bedside drawer that he hasn’t touched in about a month, and the only reason he took them then was because his mom wouldn’t hang up the phone till she believed he took them. And Josh is a good kid (kind of), so he took them, because it’s not like he would fake it. He loved his mom, and he knew she just wanted what was best for him. 

So Josh say yes. Yes he’s been taking his meds, but Josh has never even been a good liar in the first place, and Debby knows her best friend. 

“You’re jumpy, you can’t focus on anything I’m saying, and you didn't wanna leave the house because you were worried about someone judging you; which you don’t usually care about. I noticed earlier, but I figured you were just stressed.” Debby has a frown on her face, but Josh can’t bring himself to care. They go through this often, and for some reason it’s always in public, but now she’s doing this in front of a really cute boy that Josh was probably never gonna get up the nerve to talk to anyway, but the fact of the matter was still there.

Now Tyler and Jenna are staring at them anyway, and Josh’s cheeks are on fire and his eyes are glued to the table, which probably doesn’t help him in this argument. With how empty it was in there, Josh couldn’t even trick himself into thinking they hadn’t heard. “Debby, stop.”

“I’m just worried about you Josh.I know how easy it is for things to get the better of you.” She exclaims at a softer volume. She twirls her spoon between her fingers, causing it to clink against the sides of her cup. Josh breathes, tries to let it go. It doesn’t bother him, truly (It’s easier for Josh to lie to himself than anybody else).

Debby huffs out a laugh. “If I’d known you weren’t taking them I wouldn’t have ordered you coffee.” Which, truly, wasn’t a very good idea. Josh loves coffee, caffeine in general really, but it did make him really jumpy (good for drumming, but not for Debby). Josh stares at his coffee now, remembering what happened last time he drank like three Redbulls without taking his meds for a week. 

They finish the rest of their coffee in awkward silence, and leave Jenna a nice tip. As Josh goes to push the heavyish glass door open, he takes one last glance toward Tyler, who is still leaning against the counter and already looking at Josh. Tyler shoots him a smile and a small wave. “Have a good night.” He says, and Josh is out the door. 

Josh and Debby walk off into the rain. Debby complains about her hair or something and Josh hands her his favorite hoodie. Josh and Debby split as they approach Debby’s dorm building, and all Josh can think about is the fact that he’s probably not getting his hoodie back for awhile.


	2. Chapter Two

The second time Josh meets Tyler, like really meets him, is two weeks later. Josh is sat at the diner, in the same booth as the last time, yet this time he’s alone. Josh doesn’t really mind being alone either, he likes it quite a bit actually. Now it’s nearing two in the morning, and Josh figured he needed to take some kind of break from his latest piece of work- some human anatomy studies which Josh could have easily finished in a day but, instead, decided to procrastinate on to the twelth degree.

Now, Josh was a simple man, he knew he couldn’t lie to himself as easily as he could to others, but there he was trying to convince himself that he was only going to the diner for coffee due to the fact that it was closer than the 24 hour gas station.

So, Josh enters the diner and links eyes with Jenna. She shoots him a smile and greets him kindly. “Welcome back.” Josh doesn’t really know if he wants to be there anymore,but he smiles back anyway. 

He just sits, and in his serenity he thinks he can actually breath. There’s no heavy weight on his chest, no feeling of forced breath. Josh hates that feeling, he thinks about breathing to much and, if he’s being honest, it freaks him out a bit more than he’d like. 

“Hey, welcome back.” And then the feeling’s back again. “Can I get you anything to drink.” 

Not only was the feeling back, but so was a familiar face. Tyler stood in front of him, a slight smile on his face. His eyes were still a dreamy brown color and his cheeks are dusted faintly of pink. Josh wonders what someone like him would think about. Josh wonders what everyone thinks about.

Josh nods, clearing his head. “Uh, yeah. Just a coffee please.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Tyler responds. He walks back to the counter, and Josh stops paying attention.

He pulls his tiny notebook out of his pocket and pushes himself farther into the back of the booth. He drags his eyes back to Tyler. 

He’s rested against the counter once again, a bright smile on his face and a light laughter filling the room. He lowers his head, shaking it in disapproving laughter. “That can’t be right! That doesn’t make any sense.” 

Josh glances around his table. There’s a group of kids in the corner booth, all laughing to themselves quietly, and Josh is pretty sure he knows one or two of them. There’s a table of two on the other end of the restaurant, and Josh can’t really see their features from where he’s sat. Then there’s Tyler and Jenna, laughing away at something one of them said. 

In Josh’s eyes, they look close, like they’ve been friends for awhile. Maybe like him and Debby, but he guessed that didn’t really matter. They seemed like good friends from what he’d seen, and friendship had always made just feel warm inside. Kinda like his hoodie. He really wished he’d gotten it back from Debby.

He begins to doodle freely across one of the many pages of his tiny notebook. It’s not like Josh can’t tell what he’s drawing, he just hope Tyler doesn’t find it weird that he keeps glancing at his hands. Tyler taps his fingers a lot, and Josh can’t help but wonder what instrument he plays. He looks as if he’s playing a piano, fingers dancing across the counter.

Josh shoves his arms over the notebook when Tyler brings him his coffee, and thanks him with a smile, and Josh actually meet his eyes this time. Tyler takes that for something rather than nothing.

Josh sips his coffee quickly after stirring in three packets of sugar, picking up his pencil again as he drags his eyes back to Tyler, but Tyler’s already looking at him when he glances over. Josh ducks his head back down quickly, and he hears Jenna laugh, his cheeks burning a bright red.

The clock hits 3:00 am, and Tyler clocks out. Josh rest his head against his arm as he shades a part of his sketch that probably didn’t need to be shaded, he sips his coffee again and drags his thumb over the dark parts of his paper. 

Josh can feel it though, the eyes on him, and when he looks up, Tyler’s already looking at him. He’s just a lot closer than Josh thought he’d be.

“Uh, hey.” He waves, a small smile of semi crooked teeth, and Josh can feel his words in his throat already. 

Tyler’s apron is no longer wrapped around his waist, his jacket folded in his arms as he positioned his backpack. Josh can now see the bold tattoo that decorates his upper arm, matching with the faint lines that wrap around his wrist. 

“Hey.” Josh responds, the ‘y’ clinging to his tongue as if to protest the word ever leaving the safety of his mouth in the first place. Tyler’s eyes glint with some sort of excitement that Josh can’t quite understand.

“Mind if I sit?” He questions, nodding his head toward the empty booth across from Josh as indication. 

Josh didn’t think he’d mind, but getting his head and mouth to get use to the idea was the tricky part.

“It’s cool if you say no, I’ve kinda picked up on the overly anxious thing, so no pressure. I just thought you looked kinda lonely.” Tyler smiles, and Josh can see his cheeks turning pink.

Josh takes a second to call himself down, he tells himself he’ll be okay with a pretty boy sitting across from him and probably starting a conversation, but he knows his brain will be hyper aware of everything else the whole time. 

“Yeah, yeah. Go for it.” Josh responds, and Tyler does go for it. He sits down across from Josh and shoves his coat against the wall next to him.

“My names Tyler.” Tyler smiles and sticks his hand out in front of him for Josh to shake. Josh’s dad would love him for that alone, but that’s just him getting ahead of himself.

Josh sticks his hand in Tyler’s, eyes locking on the now perfectly in view ring of lines that circled his wrist. “Josh”

“Just got it done, still a little red though.” Tyler explains, observing Josh’s silent curiosity. 

“Is there a meaning to it?” 

“Well, yeah.” Tyler replies, flipping his wrist over to show Josh the other side, but casting his eyes in a different direction. The scars littering his wrist are now all but faded, probably invisible from far away. So Josh doesn’t ask questions, he doesn’t feel like it’s his place, but it confuses him as to why Tyler was so willing to silently offer up his damaged skin. Josh takes it and keeps it close to his heart.

“So, what color will it be next?” Tyler asks, laying his arms on the table in front of him. Josh looks at him with confusion, his eyes traveling up to Tyler’s face. “The hair. Last time you were in it was blue. It doesn’t look to damaged honestly, how often do you dye it?”

Josh’s hand reaches up to touch the ends of his currently bleached hair. He had bleached it just nights before, not yet adding the dye so that his hair could ‘breath’, as Debby liked to call it. “Purple”.

“Huh, purple.” Tyler repeats, eyes scanning over Josh’s head as if he’s imagining the color on him. “I can see it, it’ll look good on you.”

Josh takes a sip of his now cold coffee, hiding the blush of his cheeks behind his equally cold hands. But Tyler sees anyway and he can tell Josh is flustered, but it’s cute and his goal is to make Josh feel as at ease as possible around him.  
“What major are you in?” Josh questions, feeling like he should seem equally as involved in the conversation as Tyler.

“Music theory. Generic, I know, but it’s something I think I do well.” Tyler responds, a look of mutual interest displayed across his face. 

“No, it make sense. I figured you were musically involved somehow.” Josh exclaims, mentally patting himself on the back for being able to pick up on a detail like that.

“How so?” Tyler questions, leaning forward in curiosity. He leans gracefully onto his arms, which are still rested on the table in front of him. 

“When you tap your fingers.” Josh explains, nodding along shortly to his own words. “When you tap them, it’s more of a rhythm behind it. Almost as if your playing a piano.” 

Tyler tilts his head, and he smiles a smile that’s softer than any other smile Josh has ever seen. Josh likes it a lot, and Tyler lets out a tiny laugh to go with it.

“You’re pretty observant Josh.” 

“Yeah. I guess you could say that.”

**Author's Note:**

> cool so if anyone wants to help me come up with ideas for this fic that'd be great. hmu on insta im usually on there and i post edits and stuff so yea


End file.
